Circuit-breaker.



"5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

\ V NTOH ATTORNEY WITNESSES:

@www

@armoe THOMAS S. PERKINS. OP WILKNSBURG. PENNSYLVANIA. ASSIGNOR TO VESTING- HOUSE ELECTRIC 8c MANUFACTURNG COMPANY. A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLJU VANIA.

CIRCUIT-BREAKER.

miners.

To all whom it 'may Concern Be it known` that l, THOMAS Permixs, a citizen of the United States. and a resident of lllilkinsburg. in the county of Aillegheny and State ot lennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in `Circuit- Breakers, ot which the following is a specilicatic-n.

My invention relates to cireuit-interrupting devices and has special reference to automatic overload cirttuibbreakers which are adapted tor use with electric railway vehicle equipments. Y A

The object ot my invention is to provide a circuit-breaker that may be easily adjusted; that shall be simple and inexpen sive in ccnstruction, and that shall maintain good contact between itsfseparable termi-- nals under adverse conditions.

Automatic car circuit-breakers ot the kind most generally employed in the prior art were provided with contact brushes composed ot copper strips riveted together, and these brushes were rigidly supported by a brush-holder that was attached to an operating handle. This design was deficient in that slight variations in the adjustment of the holding latch or any bur or 'foreign substance under any part of the contact brush niaterialluv atl'ected the Contact between'the brush and the stationary contact terminal.y

My invention compensates automatically for the Wearing of the latch mechanism or the brush contact in circuit-breaker, minimizes the usual depreciative effect ot toreign substances under the contact brush and maintains a good Contact throughout the. lite ot the breaker. rl`hese results are accon plished by providing a movable" Contact brush ot special construction, which comprises a pluralityT of Contact stripsclamped together and separated by spacing conductors, which do not extend to the contact end of the brush, and by a yielding connection between the brush holder and the op erating handle.

My invention is illustrated in the eccomp'anying drawings, in Which- Figure l is an elevation and 2 a plan view of an automatic, car circuit-ln'eaker constructed in accordance therewith, the casing being shown in section in each of said tignres, and Fig. 3 is a partial elevation in which the catch mechanism of the breaker of Figs. l and 2 is more fully disclosed.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 12, 1905.

patented Nov, "itl, Serial No. 264,856.

Referring to the drawings. a tripping lever'l may be actuated in opposition lo a spring' .2 either automatically. by an overload tripping coil il. or manually, by a tripping plunger i. to strike one end ot a catch 5. which comprises a lever arm tl that is pivotally supported near its middle pointand is-provided .vith a projection Tf nea one end, which is held in engagement with a. corresponding projection 8 on a portion oit arrolwrating handle lever S) by a spring l0. When the tripping lever strikes the catch the handle lever is released and is actuated to open the circuit by a springl ll.

lVhen the breaker is closeth the circuit is ccinpleted by a Contact device l2, which coinprises an arc-breakingv contact member 13 and a currentcarrying contact member lll, both of which are pressed against a contact block l5, the arc-breaking contact member being arranged to make contact be't'ore and to break contact after the member le, in a manner well known in the art.

The current-carrying contact member 14 is composed otl a plurality of flexible metal strips 16 and a plurality of relatively short metal spacing` strips 1T bolted together and to an arm or support 18. rl`he tree portions of the stripsltl are of different lengths and have beveled contact ends located in a plane that makes an angle ot less than ninety dcgrrees .vith the strips themselves, and the tree ends ot the spacing strips TLT occupy a plane that is substantially parallel to the plane ot' the beveled ends ot' the strips lf. ly reason of this construction, the strips 1G are flexible to substantially the same degree and it any of the strips .i6 are held away ^trom the contact strip 15 by a bur or some foreign substance, goed contact between vthe otherl strips and the terminal. l5 may still be maintained.

The arm 18, which supports the Contact members lf3 and lll, is mounted upon a pin i9, about which it and its operating handle t) may rotate, the relative motion ot the tivo being limited by a pin 2u which dts loosely in ahole 2l in a projection ot the handle 9 and in a hole 2f) in a. projection 25e of the. arm i8. and is prevented from slipping out ot said parts by Cotter-pins located near its extremities and outside the projections 22 and 24. A, spring 26 surrounds the pin 20, between the projections 22 and 2st; and tends totorce said projecllt) tions away from each other and to press the beveled ends of the strips 1G against the contact block l5 when the operating handle is held in its closed position by the catch 5. -lfhe 1rc-breaking` Contact member 13 is movably attached to the 'arm 'i8 by a pin 2? and is held slightly in advance of the beveled ends of the strips i6 by a spring 28 which acts against a projection 29 on said arm.

The spring connections between the operatinghandle and the arm .i8 and between the arcbrealfing Contact member and said arm insure a good contact between the stationary and the movable contact members without necessitating a very close adjustment ot' the operating handle 9 or thc catch 5 and also take up any wear that nay occur at the point of Contact or in the catch mechanism. The spring connections here shown and described are not essential to my invention, as any other convenient, yielding connection may be employed between 'the two parts. l desire it to be also understood that my invention is not limited to any specic type of circuit-bunker or to any specic service.

l claim as my invention:

l. The combination of a stationary contact member and a movable contact meniber one ot' which comprises a plurality of Contact strips ot dilierent lengths, and a plurality ol" relatively short interpolated spacing` conductors the free ends et which occupy a plane substantially parallel to that of the free ends of the contact strips.

relatively short interpolated spacing conductors of dilerent lengths the tree ends of' which occupy a plane substantially parallel to that of the beveled 'free ends of the contact strips. i

3. ln combination, a contact menber com" prising` a group ci' laminxe and a support therefor, .said lamin :f extei'iding outwardly diiiercnt distances from theA su g'iport and having equal eii'ectii'e lex er arms Lis. ln combinati on ay contact 'nie'inller comprising a group oit laminar .ind a support therefor, said laniinze having; eyaal etiective lere arms and having at their ends Contact faces which are located successively different distances from the support.

in combinationv` a Contact member coinprising' a group ot laminzc. spacing members between the laminar', a sinjiport for the contact member. said lan'iin eitendineA oatwardly di' o :ic-es :from said sugport, said j members being ot dillerent lengths so as te provide equal free eEec tive lever arms 'or said laminal.

ln testimony whereof, lf. have hereunto Subscribed my name this 9th day et June, 1905. i

Titien? 55 Si. PElKi-l Witnesses S. M. Tannat,

311mm Hines. 

